Bold five-year plan to boost hospitality jobs

A FIVE-YEAR industry jobs plan to get more people into the overstretched hospitality industry has landed on the Premier’s desk.

A FIVE-YEAR industry jobs plan to get more people into the overstretched hospitality industry has landed on the Premier’s desk.

The Tasmanian Hospitality Association Workforce Plan aims to bridge the gap between high unemployment and a severe skills and labour shortage in the fast-growing sector.

THA general manager Steve Old said it would provide a “concrete, practical guide” for members.

The plan aims to:

PUT 20 hospitality ambassadors into schools to promote careers in the industry.

PROMOTE more school-based apprenticeships.

PROVIDE clearer pathways for hospitality careers.

GIVE employers greater incentives to take on workers.

“Operators on the ground need to know what they can do to deliver the best customer service,’’ Mr Old said.

The industry aims to generate a visitor expenditure of $2.5 billion per year by 2020, with a target of 1.5 million visitors. Last year it attracted 1.15 million visitors — an 8 per cent increase on the year before. But local businesses have repeatedly reported significant problems recruiting staff.

“Hospitality is the third- largest employing industry and there are jobs and careers for people that want them,” Mr Old said. “There are massive skill shortages in all areas, especially regional.”

Tasmanian Hospitality Association general manager Steve Old.

He said many venues were forced to look for visas and international workers, or “poach” skilled workers from other venues to fill short-term gaps.

Mr Old said the plan included a greater emphasis on school-based apprenticeships and skills, and standards training in venues statewide.

The move follows figures which showed students starting tourism, travel and hospitality training contracts dropped 13 per cent during 2013-15 and the number who completed the training declined 60 per cent.

Mr Old also said the use of “ambassadors”, who would go into schools to “get young kids and teachers to realise there are career opportunities in our industry”, would help change perceptions of the industry from the ground up.

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The plan was sent to Mr Hodgman last week for his endorsement.

Mr Hodgman said the State Government had invested $400,000 into the plan, which was “critical to ensuring we can meet the needs of the industry so hospitality providers are never hamstrung, turning down work or delaying investment because they can’t find skilled workers”.

Mr Old said the plan also aimed to ensure “that when people go into a Tasmanian venue, they get the very best customer experience they can, so Tasmania becomes renowned for being the greatest customer service capital in the world”.

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